Identity Crisis
by FairyTailFanatic
Summary: Kurama's school life. When his best friend Hinata suddenly starts to remember her dangerous past what will he do to save her? Bearing in mind, there's the next tournament to prepare for and he has plenty of problems of his own...
1. Chapter 1

"Minamino!" A girl's voice sounded from behind Minamino Shuuichi and he turned and smiled at his best friend Hinata Hirimu as she skipped slightly to catch up to him. Minamino had green eyes and long vibrant red hair which was neatly tied up with two thick strands either side of his face resting on his shoulders.

"You okay?" Hinata asked him as she matched his steady pace walking towards the school gates. Hinata's electric blue eyes sparkled, they contrasted perfectly with her cropped black hair and made her already pale skin seem even paler.

"I'm fine. You?" Minamino asked, merely making light conversation as they walked through the school gates.

"I'm good. My dad got the job he'd applied for so we went out for a meal to celebrate last night, that food was good!" Hinata went on to explain about the menu and atmosphere of the restaurant and Minamino tried to listen as much as he could, trying to block out the words that now flooded back into his memory.

"_Sucess will only lead to devastation._" He hid his shiver as a slight shift of weight and forced himself to become engrossed in Hinata's story to drown out the chilling prophecy.

"...Yeah, so it was a good night." She concluded her story and changed the subject. "Did you do that essay for today?" He rolled his eyes and smiled just enough for her to notice.

"_I've_ done it, but I bet you haven't." He emphasised the 'I've' just to show what a stupid question it was. Despite being best friends and having plenty in common, when it came to school work they were polar opposites.

"You know me too well." She said with a wide grin. They walked into the school and took their shoes off, then made their way up to their classroom.

"Talk to you later!" Hinata smiled at him and walked over to her seat at the front and he smiled back and walked over to his seat at the back. He sat down with a sigh and tried to ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his mind. He would have to deal with it, but now was neither the time nor the place. The lesson started and he made himself concentrate as hard as possible to banish all thoughts of his demons for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

The day seemed to drag by, just like all of them had recently, so it was a major relief to leave the classroom for break.

"You going to the library again?" Hinata asked her blue eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, I have a plant I need to research for the club." He said betraying as little emotion as he had to. Minamino had recently become head of the endangered plants club and people always bombarded him with questions about certain plants to try and catch him out, on the rare occasions that they did manage it, he liked to make sure that they didn't again.

"Well then I'll come with you. I'm quite interested in this myself." Hinata said smiling slightly.

"Why don't you join the club?" Minamino asked as they were walking towards the library.

"I have other things on." Hinata replied simply. Her answer to get out of most things. Minamino rolled his eyes and held the library door open for her. They walked over to the plants section (which the club had requested so it was easy for them to find out the things they needed) and Minamino handed a book to Hinata and took one for himself.

"What are we looking up?" Hinata asked opening her book at the back to search through the index. Minamino walked over to two seats, his book already open to the right page.

"I don't think that book will have this one but you could look up 'daffodills' or 'tulips'. " She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. He always teased her about how little she knew of the subject and she always had the same reaction. It was one of the many questions that, no matter how many times asked, the answer would always be the same, as well as the insult.

"What's your favourite flower?" He asked in a monotone voice, momentarily forgetting all his troubles as he read about the new plant.

"Erm...Probably roses. They're very romantic." She said with a intent look. He smiled and shook his head slightly.

"You and your 'love stories'. You'll only be disapointed when you find love isn't actually like that." Another thing her always teased her about: she liked to read romance novels. She sighed whimsically and then asked, more intently, ignoring the comment:

"What's your favourite flower? You've never said before." The thought had just occured to her and he realised that he hadn't said anything about it before. He smiled broadly.

"Roses." It was all he needed to say for both of them to laugh uncontrollably for about a minute. Hinata wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"I suppose it's just another thing we have in common." She said with a smile and Minamino nodded. He closed his book and they went and returned them to the shelves and left the library to return to class.

"Something's been bothering you lately." Hinata said looking at Minamino with a frown. He sighed. He had been hoping that she wouldn't ask that question and now he didn't know what he could tell her that wouldn't sound crazy.

"I've just... Had lots of things on my mind." Luckily the library wasn't far from the classroom so she didn't have enough time to quiz him more before they reached the classroom.

"I'll find out later!" She said pointing at him with a determined gleam in her eyes. He sighed and relaxed into his seat. The feeling was back, but this time stronger than before. He moved slowly to straighten in his chair and it felt as if he were detached from his body, as if _he_ had already taken over. He shifted his weight slightly and tried to keep his mask of composure.

'Not now.' He thought 'Any other time, but not now.' It felt as if the slightest of irritating things to happen would make him snap - that was what he dreaded the most. Kensuke Matsumi took up his place next to Minamino. This is what he had been dreading. Kensuke was a a stocky boy with black hair and brown eyes. He had scars all over his body and face which made the majority of people, including some teachers, scared of him. Kensuke was the type to not do any work in class or copy off his neighbours and annoy everyone around him. Minamino knew that the slightest inteference from Kensuke and he could snap. He shifted his weight slightly, angling himself away from Kensuke. Kensuke noticed this and snorted. Minamino swallowed.

"Scared are we? Wuss are we?" Kensuke whispered taunts over to him and Minamino let himself go slightly to respond:

"I haven't got time to waste on idiots like you today." Which made him feel like he was slipping away more and more with every passing second but he knew even if he reached the edge he would be able to hold on until at least after school. He hoped.

"Ooooh! Got a sharp tongue on you today." Kensuke sneered. Minamino bit his tongue and merely gave him an icy glare, perhaps he had been a little too sharp if even Kensuke noticed a difference.

"_Something out of character. Something Minamino wouldn't do._" He remembered the prophecy and shifted uneasily in his seat. He could still stop it. He could. He ignored most of the comments Kensuke made after that and only allowed himself to retaliate twice more each time getting a comment about sharpness or coldness even though he did try to keep that to a minimum. Finally, the school day dragged to a close and he exited the building at a medium pace which he kept up until halfway home when he stopped by the park and scanned the childrens play area. It was completely deserted. He frowned, but decided against waiting and carried on walking at a slower pace than before. He returned home to find his little brother and mother already there. As he walked in his mother smiled at him. He gave a small answering smile and walked over to the sofa where his brother was, and sat in the seat next to him.

"How was your day?" His mother asked him .

"Good. Went and researched about another plant at break." He replied trying to seem cheery so as not to worry his parent and sibling.

"Glad to hear it." His mother replied with a smile. She then went on to talk about her day and other things like schools and bills until her husband returned home from work. Then, Minamino's family sat down and ate dinner after which Minamino and his brother went up to bed. Minamino usually went to bed a little later than his brother but he had proclaimed he was tired and so he wished to go to bed at the same time as him. He then wished his parents goodnight and they both departed to their shared room to sleep.

"'Night Shuu-ni." His brother often abbreviated his name, but he didn't mind.

"Goodnight Hatanaka." He replied, then, having managed to somehow banish his troubles for a while, drifted off into an easy sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

"No!" Minamino gasped sitting up in bed. His hands were shaking severly and he was sweating. He never liked having nightmares, despite his age, but there was one he hated more than the others. He had seen a face. A face he knew all too well. It had long silver hair, cold silver eyes and sharp features. It's ears were like that of fox's on the top of it's head and the fur that covered them was also silver. This face had been pushing it's way forward, towards the front of his mind, trying to take control. He could feel it. He took deep breaths and calmed himself, then he looked at the time on his alarm. 12:50am. He sighed, his usual composure half returning even though he was still badly shaken.

"May as well..." He muttered to himself standing up and getting dressed silently. He exited the house at 1:02am and didn't return until 4:37am. When he did return he had the usual calm, serene and calculating air surrounding him. He closed and locked the back door behind him silently and hoped no-one had noticed he was missing, but assumed not, seeing how quiet the house was. He smiled to himself as he got changed back into his pajamas and looked over at the sleeping figure of his brother. He knew no-one had noticed and going to see them had been a good idea. He hoped that his demons wouldn't bother him for a few days, even though he knew he most likely hoped in vain. He lay back down and fell into an even easier sleep than before, his worries extinguished for the moment.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the week passed with no trouble or irregularities other than Minamino not being haunted by that face or the prophecy. On Sunday he felt the struggle starting to begin again and he knew he would be stuck with it until he went there again. He sighed. It hadn't been the same since the tournament and now it was starting to get worse. He feared that one day _he_ would take over and Minamino wouldn't be able to come back. Monday came and Hinata caught Minamino up on the way to school again.

"Hi, you okay?" Hinata asked when she caught up, with a smile as usual.

"Fine, you?" Minamino replied, again, with a smile.

"Have you heard about these 'demons'?" Hinata asked him tilting her head to one side slightly. Minamino felt as if he'd fallen in the deep end of the pool, unfortunately there were no life-guards to rescue him from her question.

"Yeah. Not entirely sure what to make of it all. It could be just one big scam." His expression was the only thing that changed, from a slight smile to a frown, he managed to keep his emotions in check and didn't give anything away.

"_Two will be revealed and all will be lost._" The prophecy echoed in his mind and he shuddered visibly at this line. Hinata didn't seem to notice.

"Hmmm, you could be right about the scam thing. But lots of weird things have been happening lately so maybe they _are_ real and-" She was cut off by a stone hitting her on the back of her head. "OW!" Was how she finished her sentence.

"Sorry!" A familiar voice said and Kuwabara ran across the playground to see if she was okay. Minamino looked at him and Kuwabara read his expression perfectly: ' _What the hell are you doing and why are you here?_' Kuwabara helped Hinata up and looked at Minamino.

"Erm...I have a message..." He said shifting uneasily as he passed it to Minamino. Hinata then, having properly regained her senses, slapped him around the face. The impact almost knocked him over.

"What the hell was that for? You jerk!" She said glaring at him like an angry bull. Kuwabara didn't know what to say but Minamino stopped her from hitting him again by saying:

"He's a friend." He gave the letter back to Kuwabara and smiled his thanks whilst Hinata fumed silently.

"I'll be there later, we'll talk then." He said dismissing Kuwabara who nodded and slunk back off towards his own school. Hinata had a head ache from being hit so hard by the stone and Minamino knew he would have to ask why Kuwabara had being throwing so hard if it was only meant for him. Hinata fumed on the way back to the classroom after getting painkillers, she mumbled most of what she said but the words Minamino did catch were 'idiot' and 'why so hard?' Luckily, by the time he opened to door for her, the internal rant she'd been having seemed to have ended. She sat down in the seat in front of him for the moment, as there was still half an hour until class started so it didn't matter where you sat.

"Back to our earlier conversation," Hinata started and Minamino shifted uneasily, but she didn't notice.

"Do you think these 'demons' are dangerous or not?" She asked looking him directly in the eye. He looked back and shrugged, keeping his expression blank and putting as little emotion as possible into his voice.

"Like I said it depends on whether it's a scam or not, also they may be calling themselves 'demons' for a reason." He used his logical way of thinking as an excuse to try to incriminate demons, though he had no idea why he wanted to make all of them to seem bad. Hinata nodded.

"You could be right there." She said and then added "But some of them I've seen and met have been nice so I don't think they're _all_ bad." Minamino nodded at her comment.

"I think you might be right there. Surely, you believe it isn't a scam if you've met some?" It was quite a valid question considering their converstaion earlier. Then again, that had been rudely interrupted.

"That's a good point." Hinata frowned as she said this. Minamino smiled. Sometimes Hinata didn't consider everything in the conversations,whereas he always did, as was his nature, and the way she sometimes contradicted herself afterwards made him smile without fail. Just then the door opened and teacher ordered them to get into their proper seats so he could start the lesson a bit early because of all they had to fit in. Hinata sighed, said goodbye for now and trudged across the classroom to her seat. Minamino put his hand in his pocket and idly fiddled with the contents whilst the teacher tried to calm down the rabble that had just collided when moving to their seats, they were complaining about being scratched or pushed. They finally settled down and the teacher took the register. Just as he was halfway through, Kensuke barged into the classroom, knocking the door hard into the wall and sending it clashing back to it's original closed position. Kensuke then preceded to knock two people off their chairs as he walked passed and to almost push over Minamino's desk. The teacher had paused the register to glare at Kensuke.

"Just what do you think you're doing barging in late and doing things like that in _my _classroom?" The teacher's voice was icy cold and angry. Minamino was glad that he wasn't one of the teachers that was scared of Kensuke. Kensuke returned the icy glare and stormed to the front of the classroom. To everyone's suprise he grabbed the teacher by his collar and held him so his feet were just off the ground. Minamino shifted slightly, letting his offensive side take over slightly, ready to attack Kensuke if need be.

"I. Am. Not. In. A. Good. Mood." Kensuke said looking directly into the teacher's shocked eyes. "Do. Not. Get on my bad side this morning. Otherwise, I _will_ kill you." His murderous gaze flew across the classroom. "And that goes for everyone." Kensuke put the teacher down and stomped back to his seat and threw himself down, knocking his desk slightly making it skewiff. The lesson had got off to a bad start but as it progressed it got even worse as Kensuke decided to start a fight with anyone who looked at him and, by the end of the lesson, nearly everyone in the room had been punched or had a new bruise for some reason. The teachers changed and Kensuke was taken out of the lesson to be spoken to, though most of the people there wondered why he hadn't been taken earlier. This teacher let them sit where they wanted so Hinata moved to sit next to Minamino. She didn't sit in Kensuke's place, though. No-one dared sit there. Kensuke always sat in that seat and would beat up anyone who sat in it. When he returned to lesson he would sit there.

"Well, that was a fun lesson (!)" Hinata commented sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Minamino smiled.

"At least you only got knocked off your chair. I got a full blown punch_ and _I was knocked off my chair." Minamino then added. "My desk almost fell over twice as well." Hinata laughed and then the conversation drifted off into talking about the work. The door opened and Kensuke walked back into the classroom. Luckily, he seemed much calmer than before as he took up his seat next to Minamino and the teacher put some work he wouldn't do in front of him. Minamino and Hinata merely ignored the few comments ('Sittin' with your girlfriend again, eh Minamino?') he made throughout the lesson, even though they both noted they were less than usual, and got on with their work until they had nothing to do but talk.

"Do you like caterpillars?" Hinata asked dreamily. Minamino smiled, she would often say things like that when they had nothing else to talk about.

"They're ok, but they decimate one of the worlds rarest plants which is why it's so rare in the first place. I prefer butterflies as they don't actually harm the plant." Hinata smiled.

"You and your plants." She said and Minamino laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

Break passed in what felt like no time at all and the next lesson seemed to be going on forever. Minamino had started to feel detached from his own body at the middle of break, again, and it was worsening by the minute. He took deep breaths and brought out a seed from his pocket which he studied intently, going over all the facts in his mind to calm the feelings which finally subsided as the teacher entered the room. The teacher was only on the third name in the register when the door flung open and three people, demons, stood in the doorway. Each of them was holding a gun. Panic erupted in the room and Minamino used that as a cover to move over into the shadows; he had a feeling this was going to turn into a blood bath. Just then one of the demons jumped onto a table with one of the girls in the class under his arm, the gun aimed straight for her heart. Silence fell immeadiately in the room and everyone was rigid with fear. Minamino noticed Hinata standing in the shadows near him. He was glad she was safe.

"There is a demon in this room, disguised as one of your classmates." The demon on the table spoke softly, making his voice all the more menacing. "This demon will give themselves up or," he tightened his grip on the girl and she groaned slightly,"i'll kill her." The tension in the room grew to an unbearable amount. There were whispered opinions on who it could be and that they should give themselves up. Minamino stayed quiet and in the shadows with Hinata, also quiet, stood next to him. He wondered what she was thinking. The demon on the table cleared his throat for attention and announced that whoever it was had to admit it within ten seconds otherwise he would shoot her. There was an uproar of people yelling at others to confess, but the one on the table stamped his foot to get order.

"Five seconds." He announced, positioning the girl so he could get a clean shot. The silence was deafening and it was clear that no-one was going to confess. Everyone shuffled to get in a position to be able to help the girl not recieve a fatal shot, even though it probably wouldn't work.

"Too slow." The shot echoed throughout the classroom and there were a flood of pupils trying to get to the girl crying out in agony on the table. The one on the table shook his head. He had misjudged the angle and now he couldn't go in for a second shot without injuring others. He noticed Minamino and Hinata standing away from the crowd and took a second shot. The class froze again and Hinata gasped. Minamino had blocked the bullet deftly with his arm. It stung a little but it was okay.

"Sod this." Someone said and suddenly there were four demons in the classroom. "Pass me my jacket!" She yelled instructions to people to pass her the things she could use to help treat the severly wounded girl. Minamino heard her mention something about having no painkillers and put his hand into his pocket to pull out a plant that would be useful for relieving the pain.

"Minamino!" Hinata tried to stop him pushing his way towards the girl. "You're injured too! You need to take care of yourself!" The concern and worry was evident in her eyes and her voice so he sighed and sat down.

"Give me your belt." He said holding out his hand. She unbuckled it and passed it to him. He tied it tightly around his arm just above the wound to stop the bleeding then stood up and pushed his way through the crowd. Hinata sighed and shook her head. He was hopeless.

"Need painkillers?" He asked the demon nursing the injured girl. She looked at him and took the plant with a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, that'll make things much easier!" She gave it to the girl and she seemed to relax a bit. Minamino helped out as much as he could and between them they managed to get the bullet out and to stop the wound bleeding so that, when the ambulance arrived, all they had to do was take her to hospital to get the wound cleaned and bandaged. Minamino went in the ambulance as well, just so they could clean up his wound. While they were looking at his arm he thought about how quickly the other three demons left when someone had announced that an ambulance had been called. A thought struck him. A thought he didn't like. He supressed a shiver and quickly shunned the thought and that of the haunting prophecy that came to his mind at the same time.


	6. Chapter 6

Minamino left the hospital the next day. Before he left he went to see the girl who had been injured and found her fast asleep. He was glad she seemed to be healing quickly. He called Hinata as soon as he arrived home. She hadn't been allowed to go to visit him at the hospital and she had been worrying herself sick and going over worst possible scenarios in her mind all night. He assured her that everything was fine and that he'd be back at school that day. His mother overheard this part of the conversation and she had something to say about it.

"What was that about going into school today?" She asked him as he sat down to eat his breakfast. He sighed and gave his parent a look that said '_I'm fine, stop worrying_'. His mother sighed and replied:

"Be careful. Remeber what the doctor said." He finished his mouthfull and sighed.

"I always _am_ careful, mum, and you know it." He said exasperated. His mother merely sighed and shook her head. He then finished his breakfast and left for school. Minamino walked slower than usual, meaning that he caught up to Hinata rather than her catching up to him.

"Hi." He said coming into step beside her. She smiled at him.

"Hi." She replied then asked, "How's your arm?"

"Fine." He moved his arm freely to demostrate his point. Hinata sighed and shook her head.

"Sometimes I think you should worry about yourself more." Minamino always put others first, Hinata liked this but not when it meant he was in danger to.

"Maybe I will when there isn't a severly injured girl with no pain relief in the room, when someone is trying to extract a bullet from her." He raised his eyebrow and she sighed again. Whenever they had this discussion Minamino _always_ had a good comeback. Then again, it was rare that he didn't. They walked into the classroom early again and everyone was talking about the incident yesterday.

"Minamino! Didn't you get shot too? Are you okay?" A group of girls came over to him and Hinata and started a conversation about the events of yesterday. The only time when Minamino spoke during this was when they were talking about the shooting, as this was the time he knew he wouldn't give anything about himself away. The teacher walked in and ordered silence so everyone listened intently.

"As you may already know, two other classes were attacked by demons, also." Mumurs broke out and Minamino and Hinata exchanged looks. "Fortunately, there were no injuries in those classes as the demons left when the first shot was fired." This caused even more mumurs and whispers so the teacher had to ask for quiet once more. Minamino wondered why they would attack two other classes, then leave before doing anything. He shuddered at the line in the prophecy once more.

"The demons that were disguised in these classes were not revealed, but, with specialists help, we managed to identify that there are at least three more demons in disguise in the school." People started chatting eagerly so the teacher yelled at them to get into a line and go into the hall for an assembly to figure out who these three 'dangerous characters' were. Minamino stayed quiet and so did Hinata. She figured he was thinking and she never liked to disturb his thoughts. The other classes were already in the assembly when they arrived but everyone was chatting and the classes were all mixed up. Minamino and Hinata sat down on the nearest two seats they could find and didn't talk. The head teacher asked for quiet and an eerie silence fell over the cramped hall.

"I would like to introduce you to the experts who allowed us to discover that there were three more of these demons still within our school." He carried on to say their names and they entered the stage one by one. The last was holding the demon who had been revealed during the incident yesterday. She looked as if she'd been beaten up badly as she was covered in bruises. Minamino felt queasy seeing her like that. The experts then took over the assembly.

"We are going to find the other three demons in this hall and we are going to rid this nice school of them." He made it sound as if they were a disease. Someone snorted but no-one could pinpoint where it came from. The demon at the front smiled to herself.

"We will give you ten minutes to decide to confess and then we will have to take action." The leader of the group finished and sat down when an unfamiliar gir'ls voice echoed through the room.

"'Take action'? Is that your way of saying torture? Sometimes I wonder why we go out of our way to save dying humans trapped in the demon world when _this_ is how they repay us." She walked down the steps into the well of the hall where everyone was sitting. She was covered in bandage like strips and wore a black cloak underneath them. The only thing you could see of her body was her right eyeball which protruded from the bandages so she could guide herself in this disguise. Minamino now knew who had snorted and smiled internally. Things were about to get interesting.

"Who are you?" The leader asked in a flat, monotone voice. She snorted again.

"Why would I tell you that? You're my enemy, you fool! It's not like I'm going to have the sudden urge to tell you everything about me! Well, that's presuming _you_ won't have the sudden urge to inform me of everything about yourselves." There were a few snorts and giggles in response to the last comment and Hinata and Minamino looked at each other, smiling. They both liked this newcomer, though Minamino had a slightly different reason than Hinata. They turned back to see her looking around the room.

"That got a better reception than expected. It may be easier getting people on my side than I first imagined." She seemed genuinely pleased to have recieved such a clear reaction. The leader didn't react and the others seemed to be waiting for his next orders, hands on guns.

"Well, maybe you would answer a question as to why you were here?" She looked at him.

"Well, maybe I might if you asked me one." Again this caused a few giggles, but not as many as before. She smiled inside her bandages, she hadn't meant for any of it to humiliate her opponent but that seemed to be the effect her words were having. She liked it.

"Then, why are you here?" The leader asked remaining seemingly unfazed but Minamino could tell it was getting to him. The girls smile widened as she sensed it too.

"I would have thought it obvious! To save my comrade and stop you revealing the other three! I have no idea how this is going to turn out if you can't work out even that by yourselves!" She made it sound as if she were getting irritated by their stupidity and the response from the crowd was exactly what she wanted, the same as before. Minamino shifted slightly, even if things went wrong he wouldn't mind fighting beside her the way she was now. He decided to make a pact with the face for now and let it half take over to see how this, very long as it was turning out to be, assembly would end. The leader, again, appeared unfazed. Then someone stood up with a half smirk half grin on his face.

"If this is goin' the way I think it is I don't care about revealin' myself. I'll follow ya til the end boss!" He made his way through the lines of people to stand beside the bandaged demon.

"You didn't have to do that on my account you know, Masuto." She said looking at him with a hidden smile. He shrugged.

"Ya know I never cared about that back then and I just did it now. I 'aven't changed much since then." She chuckled quietly and then turned back to the leader.

"As I seem to be gaining allies you seem to be loosing them." She gestured at two of the men who had been watching over the captured demon and who were now lying on the floor unconcious. The demon girl stood to the other side of the one in bandages and looked considerably better and less bruised than before. Minamino realised she was a good actress.

"Still got it." She said her eyes sparkling with a determined light, they would win this one. The leader sighed and took off his glasses, putting them into his pocket for safe keeping. The demon in the bandages moved forward one step. No-one else moved and there was a brief pause whilst the leader ordered his men to stay back and cover the students and not to worry about him. Then the leader walked into the middle aisle and stopped at where the chairs began. His face was still in its expressionless mask as he spoke.

"I think we should get down to the point. We don't want anyone here to get hurt unless absolutely nesscesary-" He was interupted by the demon who had been captured

"Or unless you feel the sudden need to torture people for imformation." Her eyes were as cold as ice and the men at the front shifted uneasily when hit by her icy glare.

"-we also know you wouldn't want anyone to get hurt-"

"Unless absolutely nesscesary." The demon in the bandages interrupted. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be tortured? Have you ever actually experienced what you do to people?" Her voice had become sharp and cold and Minamino could feel himself getting worked up. There was about to be a fight.

"It's true, I have never been tortured and I do not enjoy doing it no matter what you may think." The leader responded. The demon in the bandages snorted.

"I think you're a good liar. Unfortunately, your eyes cannot lie and I see the pleasure other peoples screams bring you." She revealed her left arm and began unwrapping the bandages that covered her robed body. There was a collective gasp as her true form was revealed. She had been born as a slave and in order to escape, she had burned off the entire right side of her body, excluding the bottom of her leg, using acid. All that remained was the bloody tissue muscle and some metal limb structures she used in place of her original arm and leg. She liked the scars and showed them proudly, what she considered to be her best scars were hidden under her robe though and she wouldn't wish to show them in such a place as this. Her blond hair was swept to the opposite side of her face and her eyes were pitch black even though the colour changed frequently depending on her mood. Minamino was used to her appearance but reacted as seemed appropriate for the moment. Hinata had a look of shock and horror on her face and Minamino put on a slightly shocked look.

"I apologise if anyone is squeamish." She said with a small smile looking around the room. The leader reacted for the first time, raising his eyebrow slightly.

"Well, your youki just went up by a staggering amount, miss Mukuro if i'm not mistaken." He said his voice still montone despite his expression. Mukuro smiled.

"Usually i'm quite good at sensing reiki, I can't sense yours." She then added "Of course that could mean that you're too strong but I highly doubt that and rather believe it is the complete opposite." The leader snorted quietly and someone plucked up the courage to ask Mukuro the question everyone wanted to know the answer to.

"Erm...How did you get those scars?" He asked timidly not wanting to stand out too much. She looked at him and then around the sympathetic and shocked faces around the room. She was suprised at the sympathy, but if that was how she was going to get people on her side then so be it.

"I had a rather unpleasant upbringing and in order to run away I used acid to burn the right side of my body which is what created these scars." She answered the question as though it was nothing and this caused her to gain much more respect among the pupils of the school, especially ones who knew the _whole_ story. Minamino wasn't that suprised that she edited as this was hardly the place for talking about such things. Hinata smiled at Minamino and whispered:

"I think I like her much more than I did at the start! How can she just make it seem so casual." Minamino smiled and shrugged.

"Perhaps she's so strong that she's gotten over it." He replied trying not to give too much away. Hinata nodded and then they turned their attention back to Mukuro and the leader.

"Well, what's going to happen now then?" Mukuro asked the leader though it seemed pretty obvious what both of them intended to do.

"Why don't we take this outside?" The leader suggested his eyes scanning the faces of the pupils eagerly watching them. Mukuro shook her head.

"What's the point? I've already won." She smiled and looked him directly in the eyes, her eyes changed colour. From deep black to a vibrant blue. It was abvious she wasn't going to fight. Minamino's offensive side calmed once more as he figured out Mukuro's plan and smiled to himself. The leader raised both his eyebrows and merely replied:

"Oh?" Mukuro rolled her eyes still smiling and then pointed at a member of the audience.

"You." She looked at him."Who's side are you on, mine or his?" The boy looked shocked to have been asked such a question but answered honestly.

"Yours." Mukuro pointed to another person and they responded immeadiately with the same answer. She carried on with this until everyone in the hall had answered. Everyone, bar 2 people, was with her. She looked back at the leader with a smile still on her face.

"My only goal was to get people to see that demons aren't all bad and to show that sometimes humans can be worse." She smiled wider her eyes shifting to a muddy brown colour. "We could still fight if you wanted to, though." The leader sighed and someone clearing their voice from the railings up above made everyone, bar the demons in the middle and Minamino, jump. A young man with black hair and a scarf was standing there. You wouldn't notice anything unusual about him at first but if you looked closer you may have seen the letters 'Jr' tattooed onto his forehead. He was the ruler of the spirit world, lord Koenma. Mukuro looked unfazed as the spirit world elite team took away the team whom had been trying to capture the demons. She'd seen them plenty of times before but she knew she could easily defeat them if they turned on her for some reason, which she doubted seeing as Koenma was there and she was working _with_ them.

"I apologise on behalf of my subordinates." Koenma stated. "Some are disobidient and don't like the way I work things." The room was still mumuring and someone yelled out

"Who are you and what's going on?" Koenma sighed and replied that he was the leader of the spirit world and that the people who had been arrested were people who were trying to disturb peaceful demons.

"Although," He added. "We _will_ deal with demons who are willing to take action, such as the ones yesterday who were promptly arrested." This caused more mumurs and Koenma excused himself abruptly. He never liked talking to a crowd more than nesscesary. Minamino knew the reason for this and supressed a smile, no matter how many times it came up the incident with the crowd would still be funny. He looked around at the chaos in the hall. Mukuro and her two suburdinates had mingled into the crowd and were talking to people. Hinata nudged him to get his attention and pointed towards a mini fight happening in the corner furthest away from the teachers.

"Let's go see Kensuke get his butt kicked by that demon!" Hinata said eagerly and Minamino smiled at in response. They walked over to the scene of the fight to find Kensuke on the ground and the girl demon who had been captured looking down at him.

"Is that all you got?" She commented looking slightly bored with one eyebrow raised slightly.

Kensuke glared at her and got up angling a punch at her face. She dodged it with ease and flipped him over, slamming him face-first into the ground. He coughed and spluttered but appeared to only have a nose bleed and a couple of broken teeth. She put her foot on his back in a triumphant pose. Everyone watching cheered and she grinned at them. She moved her foot so he could stand and left before the fight could continue any longer. Kensuke spat out blood and stayed on the floor glaring at the cracked ground. Hinata laughed as they walked away from the scene. Minamino grinned, Hinata noted that this was the happiest she'd seen him in a while. They returned to their original seats and sat down talking about what had just happened when Mukuro came and sat next to Minamino. Hinata smiled at her and she smiled back. The three of them broke into an easy conversation about the way Mukuro dealt with the guards. Minamino felt at ease, he had let the face take over for a while but he knew it wouldn't matter unless he made conversation as he would hardly be revealed by saying 'you.' Mukuro noticed his ease and said nothing to reveal him. The teachers finally called for silence and everyone stayed where they were, including the demons, but everyone fell silent.

"You have all probably discussed this matter with each other and can continue to do so after I have finished speaking but I would prefer it if all of it stayed secret to your parents." The head continued and Mukuro seized the oppurtunity to talk to Minamino without Hinata hearing.

"The date for the next tournament has been set. I presume you'll be entering again." He smiled at her and let the face take over for the conversation.

"Of course." He replied. He knew it was coming up and the note from Kuwabara had said to prepare for it (he still hadn't gone to see him yet but made a mental note that he should visit within the week). "When is it?" He asked.

"Three weeks so you should enter while there's still room on the entry forms(!)" She put a little sarcasm into her voice and they exchanged an unseeable smile through their eyes. The head finished speaking and Mukuro said goodbye to them and mingled back into the crowd. Her job here was now completely finished.

"She's cool!" Hinata commented, she obviously adimired Mukuro and Minamino could see it as plain as day in her eyes.

"She is pretty cool." Minamino commented. He liked Mukuro and was begining to feel as if he knew her better than he knew his previous partner, Yomi. He sighed to himself and thought about the tournaments and puzzles that he and his three friends had been through with various other allies as well. He missed the three of them but he knew he needed a slight break from it all. But, now that he was having a break, he was getting bored more easily and wishing there were problems the four of them could solve together again. He sighed audibly and Hinata looked at him with a frown which he chose to ignore. She sighed. Hinata was just as troubled as him, even though she didn't look it, so she decided not to press him on it.


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the day was like a blur and Minamino couldn't even remember half of it! What he did remember was that they sat in the hall all day, talking to the demons who came and went. Also the last half of the day when Mukuro had decided she was going to stay sitting next to him and so it had turned into a big conversation in which everyone joined in and they were at the center of. Mukuro said no more about the tournament to him but they did exchange hidden glances when certain things were said that made people seem as if they knew more than they were letting on. The end of the day came and they left the school.

"See you tomorrow!" Hinata said smiling and waving cheerily. Minamino returned the smile and wave but said nothing. He thought about his friends on the way home and stopped when he reached the park again. It was empty as it usually was but he sighed and walked over to sit on the rail near to the woods the opposite side of the park. He needed to see them anyway. He was there for about an hour but he knew his parents wouldn't worry as they were used to him going home late and it was always a shock to them when he arrived early. He felt much better after talking with them in the park again and ammended that he should keep doing that whilst his cover was unbroken. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret forever though, but he would try to for as long as possible. He arrived home at the same time as his step-father and excused himself straight after dinner as he had been doing for the last few weeks. When they were in bed Hatanaka turned to face his older brother and asked:

"Have you been feeling okay this week?" Hatanaka was obviously concerned about him as he was frowning as he said this.

"I'm fine, just got something on my mind but i'll be back to normal by next week, I promise!" He smiled at his brother and his brother smiled back. Minamino found it quite cute when Hatanaka worried about him like this but even so he had chosen not to worry him further.

"'Night!" Hatanaka said turning over and lying down properly.

"Goodnight." Minamino replied softly doing the same.


	8. Chapter 8

"What _are_ you trying to do?" Minamino asked. Hinata had been staring at an ant on the ground in front of her for about a minute now.

"I'm trying to have a staring contest with an ant! What does it look like?" She replied not taking her eyes of the ant. Minamino laughed and turned to look out over towards the horizon. It was the second week into the school holidays and Minamino and Hinata had decided to go on a camping trip up in the hills. They had chosen the perfect spot and had a gorgeous veiw all the way to the sea with the bonus of a fresh water supply in the woods just next to them. They had made sure they would have enough food and clothes for the week and they had been out here for three days. The last few weeks of term had gone brilliantly, with Minamino not being bothered by the face or prophecy, no more disturbances concerning demons and he had also scored the highest in the school on the tests. Hinata had only got thirty seven out of the seventy marks availible, but it was a record for her so she was happy and had celebrated with a meal out to which her closest friends attented. It had been an all round good end to the term and now they were having a good start to the holidays. Hinata gave up on the ant and gazed across to the sparkling waters in the harbour. She smiled peacefully and her eyes mimicked the beautiful spakling water. Minamino sighed contentedly and they stayed looking out over the horizon this way for about five minutes. Hinata shifted her eyes to Minamino halfway through seeing him to be a picture of serenity. She liked seeing him this way; calm and peaceful. It suited his calculating nature and brought the best out in him. She shifted slightly, her heart fluttering and hoped he didn't notice her blushing. Minamino hadn't of course, but had been thinking about his friends again and the upcoming tournament. He had entered on the closing day last week and had seen all his friends there, naturally there were some fights to be broken up but it was good to see them all. Remembering this made him smile and he found himself getting worked up about competing next week. He smiled and stood up.

"Going to get some more water." He said, breaking the easy silence. Hinata smiled.

"'Kay." She replied. She then stood up and stretched. "I'll start preparing dinner." She said walking over to the tent to fish out vegetables and a knife. Minamino picked up the water bottle and began walking towards the stream.

"Don't chop your finger off!" He taunted.

"Don't fall in again!" She retorted, emerging with the ingredients and knife. He grinned and then turned to pay attention to where he was walking. He didn't paticularly mind being taunted about falling in a few days ago, but he didn't particularly want to fall in again either. He filled up the water container and then stood up and checked the area for any youki. With the tournament only next week, some of the competetors would stop at nothing to eliminate the competition and there had been many of the weaker entrants trying to take out some of the main competition when they were least expecting it so he knew he had to be careful. He finished checking the area and when he was sure there was nothing her returned to their camp.

"Hey." Hinata gave him a simple greeting as he returned to camp and he smiled in reply and sat on a log/makeshift-chair, setting the water down beside him. Hinata chopped up the rest of the vegetables and Minamino found an unusual plant he didn't recognise by the side of his log/makeshift-chair so decided to sketch it whilst Hinata finished preparing dinner.

"All done!" She announced and scraped the vegetables she had been chopping into the pot where Minamino had put some water on to boil a couple of minutes before. The water splashed up and almost hit her hand but she had moved it away quickly with a yelp.

"It didn't even touch you." Minamino said raising an eyebrow and pausing his sketch.

"It came close!" Hinata retorted pouting and sticking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and looked out towards the sunset. The clear waters of before were now tinged orange and pink, it was a truly spectacular sight. He sighed silently and finished his sketch and compared it to the plant itself. He'd at least be able to tell what it was, he supposed. He tucked his drawing into the book he had been leaning on and stood up to go and put it back in the tent. After he had done that, he brought out the bag of pasta and threw it at Hinata. She only just managed to catch it.

"You should put it in now." He said as Hinata looked relieved she hadn't dropped it.

"You shouldn't throw it at me! I can't catch very well!" She only just managed to make the 'very well' fit on the end; Minamino would have corrected her that she _had _caught it and so it was not an impossibility if she hadn't have added it. She poured about half the remaining amount of pasta in and put the lid on the massive pan, leaving to cook for a while. Minamino looked out at the sunset again and thought back to the time on the beach after reading the will. He smiled slightly as he remembered Yuusuke being pushed into the sea and all of them joining in eventually. Even thinking about something like that made his stomach feel like an empty pit had just opened up. It felt like he was desperately lonely and despairing. He sighed whimsically and temporarily sealed the pit by reminding himself that he would only have to wait until the tournament to see them again. He made a vow that after that he would visit the beach to see them more often. He heard a twig snap which violently shook him from his thoughts and he exchanged glances with Hinata.

"What was that?" She whispered as they both got up and walked towards each other so they ended up near the pot of dinner which was bubbling away merrily over the campfire.

"I don't know but for some reason I don't like it." He took a slightly protective stance in front of Hinata and scanned the edge of the forest. He would have sensed something if it was demons or even his friends. Not knowing what or who it was made him feel uneasy and all he could do was wait and see. The thought struck him like a lightining bolt. He knew he couldn't reach the tent easily yet his only means of defence were in there. He tensed and shifted uneasily his eyes scanning the woods more carefully now until he could make out three shapes. He didn't change his manner as the shapes seemed to be waiting for the right moment to move and he knew it would be when they were getting more tense. One of the figures moved slightly and another twig snapped. Hinata gasped from behind him and moved in closer. Her anxiety was so thick you could almost see it in the air. He glanced round and just from that he could tell that she was petrified. He angled his body more protectively and she moved in a bit closer. She had no idea of what was happening but she felt safer when she was closer to him. Even when he was anxious like this, there was still a hint of his calm and calculating aura under it and this made her feel safe. She realized that she was relying on him to protect her when she never would have done something like that normally. She looked down at the knife in her belt and gulped. If whoever or whatever it was came close enough to hurt him she would defend him with her life, he meant more to her than that anyway. Another twig snapped and she pressed herself against his back. She could feel his steady heartbeat which made her feel calmer. Minamino didn't mind her doing this, the only thing that mattered to him was that she stayed safe and didn't get hurt because of him. He kept up his protective stance and slightly scared expression and three demons emerged from the shadows. There was an obvious leader as he walked slightly ahead of the other two. He had black hair and dark green eyes and wore a slightly cocky smirk on his face that Minamino didn't like.

"Evening." He greeted them smoothly."Nice day for camping, isn't it?" The other two wore the same expression but all of them were supressing their auras and so there was no way of telling how strong they were. The leader licked his lips and pulled out a knife, beginning to walk towards them.

"S'pose better get down to buisness straight away, huh?" Minamino tensed and Hinata took a deep breath preparing to pounce on him when he got close enough. He took two more steps and Hinata jumped out from behind Minamino with a yelp, stabbing him in the chest. A fatal blow. Minamino was shocked but he didn't have time to think about that now as the other two demons rushed in either side of them. Hinata met one of them getting scratched slightly as she delivered yet another fatal wound. Whilst she was doing that Minamino dodged the others attack and snapped the demon's wrist causing him to yelp in pain and drop the knife. Minamino then retrieved the knife and delievered his first fatal blow.


	9. Chapter 9

They both sat down panting. Hinata's hands were shaking from the rush of adrenaline that had just produced.

"Woah!" She said with a grin. "I should fight more, its fun." Minamino looked at her like she was crazy though he knew she was most likely about to remember no matter what he said.

"Are you sure that's you speaking? Hinata would never say something like that!" He lightly teased her, he wasn't sure how he managed to keep the concern from his voice. She couldn't remember. That could never happen again. Never. Luckily, she replied by sticking her tongue out as usual and Minamino smiled easily. He looked at his hand; it was covered in blood. Even after a fight as small as that he found himself getting worked up. He tried to calm himself down by closing his eyes, but he just saw the face again so he opened them abruptly. He sighed and stood up.

"I'm gonna go-" He started to say he was going to wash his hands in the stream but his sentence was cut short by some menacing growls and snarls and four huge grey wolves appearing from out of the woods. They looked at each other and Hinata smiled picking up her knife again.

"Here goes nothing!" She said charging at the nearest wolf. Minamino tutted as she was almost swallowed whole by the wolf, but instead cut it in half. He felt uneasy watching her fight the next wolf as if it was nothing, it felt too much like the old days and he didn't like it. He turned to the wolf advancing on him and dodged it's attack whilst fatally wounding both it and the next one in one blow. Usually he wouldn't dare showcase his skills like that but it felt natural today for some reason. More wolves appeared and there seemed to be more behind them they exchanged looks and Minamino sighed. He had hoped it wouldn't have to have come to this so soon. He had hoped the prophecy wouldn't apply to something like this, but it all seemed to fit.

_The tale starts with sucess but sucess will only lead to devastation.  
>You may be able to act well but others won't be as lucky.<br>Two will be revealed and all will be lost for you as well.  
>You will end up doing something out of character.<br>Something Minamino wouldn't do and that will be your downfall.  
>Your days are numbered and you should spend them wisely, as your family will never forgive you for this betrayal.<em>

Before this fight had even started the prophecy had begun to unravel, two of the demons had walked out of the shadows slightly before the third and now he was about to do something completely out of character. He sighed and started to slowly back off towards the tent. If he was going to fight seriously he would have to get his weapon.

"What are you doing?" Hinata hissed over at him. "I can't beat all of them by myself!" He looked at her and smiled slightly.

"Cover for me." He said. She looked at him like she was going to kill him and humphed, turning back to face the massive pack of wolves that had just emerged.

"Sure thing." She replied changing into her fighting stance and getting ready to take on the massive wolves. Even if he was deserting her, there was no way she was losing. Minamino was in the tent and he grabbed his jacket pulling out a seed and a rose. He then sighed and stepped out of the tent transforming the rose into a whip and killing five wolves with one blow. This form would do for now, he supposed.

"We can handle a demon attack without me revealing myself but wolves," He tutted and shook his head. "We've got no chance." Hinata laughed and replied:

"I'll ask questions later." She tore through one wolf and kicked another straight into the path of the whip. Minamino watched Hinata clearing a path through the wolves and thought about the old days. They had been a team, always together and forever having sleepovers 'just in case' they had said. As he watched her now he could see Hina and not Hinata. They were two different people and he was just praying that she didn't get a split personality and/or that she wouldn't fully turn back into Hina. One of the wolves managed to avoid the path of the whip so he flicked one of the seeds he had at it and the wolf evoporated. 'Not just any old wolves' he thought to himself, '_demon_ wolves.' He looked around him and all the wolves they had just killed had been absorbed into the earth. They had been fighting demon wolves and they managed to not only mistake them for normal wolves but to beat them as easily. He looked at her who was just finishing off the last wolf and looking kind of baffled to see the body dissapearing when she killed it. How strong had Hina got? Surely this wasn't a good thing?

He looked around for the stem of the plant he had just planted and pulled it out, snapping it in half as he did and the plant was absorbed into the earth itself. It was a plant that consumed youki so he had to be careful when he was using it in fights. He dropped the bit he was holding into the whirlpool like hole where the stem was being absorbed and the hole closed.

"Dinner's ready." She said, sharing out the food into equal portions. Minamino smiled. Only _Hinata_ could say something like that at a time like this.


	10. Chapter 10

They sat down and ate in silence. Minamino knew she would ask her questions after about five minutes and so he prepared answers that wouldn't give too much away. He couldn't risk Hina coming back. He had a promise to keep. He looked up at the black night sky, where he could see thousands of little stars trying outshine each other. He looked down over the still bustling town below and could faintly hear the sound of traffic and the music and crowd from a concert being played there that night. He looked down at his hands; they were even more covered in blood. He stood up and walked into the woods, following the sound of the stream. He dipped his hands into the water and rubbed them together to get rid of the blood. He looked up at the sky again and stood for a moment, just listening to the stream and the wind in the trees. He sighed and walked back to camp and Hinata walked out into the woods to wash their bowls, and her hands, in the stream. There was an easy silence for about five minutes after she returned. Minamino had given up trying to think of answers and decided just to take the questions as they came. He wasn't going to make this easy for her, that was certain. Hinata finally decided on a question but prolonged the silence by two more minutes before plucking up the courage to ask it. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Who are you?" Hinata said and there was another silence before he answered.

"Me." He replied with a sly tinge to his voice. Hinata rolled her eyes.

"This is going to be a _long _night." She looked at him with a slight smile in her eyes and he knew she wasn't going to give in until she got the answers she wanted. She was right, it was going to be a_ very _long night. There was a silence until she repeated her question.

"Who are you?" he looked at her.

"You've known me for five years. You know who I _am_." He stressed the last word slightly to try to give her a hint at the question she should ask. She'd probably miss it, as usual. He was kind of hoping that to be the case but, unfortunately, this was not a usual situation.

"Fine then, who _were _you?" She asked with an exasperated sigh and he smiled slightly.

"Someone else." She 'harumphed' and he laughed. This definately wasn't going to be easy for her. She sighed and looked up at the stars as if they had all the answers.

"Who am I?" She asked dazedly and Minamino swallowed nervously. That had to be the worst question so far, even if she was only asking herself. She looked at him and he tried to seem normal.

"I'm not who I think I am, right? It's all to do with the fact I can't remember, right?" She looked at him with a determined shine in her eyes. She wasn't letting _this_ one go. He sighed and looked away. Memories came flooding back to him, memories of the old days. Those days had been good and he wouldn't mind returning to them but, he had made a promise.

"_She must never remember. You know the consequences._" _Her_ voice echoed in his mind. He never did care enough at the time to remember her name. Right now, he wished had. He knew she would reappear as soon as she noticed Hina was being remembered.

"Who am I?" She half whispered to him and stared at the patch of muddy grass by her feet. He looked over at her, his eyes sad, but she didn't look up. He looked away again before she did. Maybe not as long a night as they'd imagined.

"I'm going to bed." She whispered after a long silence and slunk off into the tent.

"I'll keep watch. The wolves may come back." He replied just as she was about to zip up the tent. She smiled slightly.

"Night." Was all she said, closing the zip.

"Goodnight." He replied quietly. He sat there for a further half and hour until he sensed _her_ presence and stood up, changing into his true form; it was the best way to talk to _her_.

"You have broken your promise." She said emerging from the woods. Her appearance was that of a traditional Japanese princess. She had long black hair tied up on top of her head elegantly and her green eyes shone with a regal light. She walked like royalty and she could easily be mistaken for a real princess. She wasn't of course. She just liked feeling as if she was better than everyone else. Many people would just take her as obnoxious and spiteful but Minamino knew the reason for her being so harsh. It wasn't very pleasant.

"I think you'll find that _I_ haven't done anything to tell her who she is." His silver eyes remained cold and dark. "It seems she managed to half remember herself." She raised her eyebrows, her cold eyes matching his.

"That _is_ a suprise. You mean to tell me you didn't do _anything _which could have aided this?" They both wore the same cold expression and were having a perfectly balanced conversation. They matched each other exactly and most people would have found it funny to watch and made some joke out of it. Hinata, on the other hand, was intrigued. She wanted to know what was going on. She wanted to know who she was. Both of them knew. She wanted to know. She wanted to know! A tingling excitement ran through her body like electricity, this feeling was completely different to the one before, she had felt despairing then, but this time she felt excited. She had to find out. She had to know. She listened and watched their conversation intently trying to catch anything that would give her a clue as to who she was.

"I did what I had to." Minamino replied to her last comment. She 'humph'ed but said nothing else about that.

"I suppose I'll be going then." She said coolly. "Kurama," she added as he turned to walk back and he turned to look at her again. "She must _never_ remember. You know why." He nodded once and she left. He turned back to his human form, Minamino Shuuichi, and sighed. She was going to remember and there was nothing he could do about it.

'_Kurama_' Hinata played the word over in her mind. That was his name. She remembered her old name too. She knew slightly more. Memories that never happened to her. She smiled to herself but frowned at the girl's last words.

"_She must never remember. You know why._" What was wrong with her remembering? Who was that girl? Was the girl actually royalty or was she just pretending? Hinata sighed and the electricity died down slightly. She decided to think about it in the morning and drifted off into an easy sleep. Kurama, on the other hand, had decided not to sleep. He sat outside the tent looking up at the stars his eyes vacant and cold. He was thinking about what he would do when she remembered. He hoped it wouldn't be for a while but there was every possibility that she had heard that conversation and that would help her remember. Especially seeing as his real name had been mentioned.

"_Never come back here!_"

"_I __**want **__it this way! It will be easier won't it?_"

"_If you break this promise you know the consequences._"

Memories came back to him all at once and swirled through his mind, making his already grim mood even worse. Images flickered past his eyes and he pictured every scene clearly and felt the exact same feelings that he had at that point. He inhaled sharply and shook his head to clear this barrage of thoughts. The pain of the last image was unbearable and, even though the thought has been pushed back as far as he could possibly get it, a dull ache still remained. He changed the course of his thoughts to the tournament and smiled. He only had to make it through the rest of this week until he could forget about everything and lose himself in the tournament. With all the worries he had on his mind, he couldn't wait.


	11. Chapter 11

The night seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly and morning came as a half relief. He wanted to forget about the nights events and start over which he made very clear when Hinata emerged by saying:

"Sleep well?" Hinata smiled at him and replied:

"Yes thanks, you?" He returned her smile, though his was more folorn.

"I didn't sleep." he replied simply and she rolled her eyes.

"You should sleep now then! You seemed exhausted after everything that happened last night." She brought it up casually so he made it clear he didn't want to linger on that subject.

"I'm fine, I'll start making breakfast." He said going into the tent to get started. Hinata sighed and walked into the woods to the stream to wash. When Hinata got back they ate breakfast in silence looking out over the bay and the orange/pink morning sky. Hinata could tell he didn't want to talk about last night so she decided to wait a little before she told him about her listening in on the conversation. She hoped he wouldn't be too angry. Kurama noticed her slight unease and shifted slightly as the uneasiness spread to him. He had a foreboding feeling that the conversation would take an unpleasant turn when they had finished eating. Hinata, however, plucked up her courage and decided she couldn't put off the conversation any longer. No matter what, she wasn't going to give up on herself.

"Last night...Who was that girl you were talking to?" She spoke slowly and chose her words carefully. There was an awkward silence before he answered.

"I can't remember her name." He said with a sharp edge to his voice. He had been right about her listening in but he suspected she had been _watching_ too, which would make things quite a bit more complicated. Kurama finished his breakfast and they sat in silence whilst Hinata finished hers. Hinata's heart was beating fast from his reaction and she was kind of scared to ask any of her other questions because of that alone. She sighed and pushed her worries to the back of her mind. There was no point in delaying it, she may as well just ask no matter what his reaction may be. She finished her breakfast and they both went to wash their plates in the river. She decided to just bring it up casually and out of the blue. It would either be the best or the worst way.

"You...are a demon, right?" She only just managed to keep her voice steady and her hands from shaking as she carried on washing her plate. She was glad she had her back to him. Kurama had stopped what he was doing when she had finished her question. He had been right to suspect her of watching as well, but that meant she was more likely to remember.

"You were watching." He said it as a statement, his voice quiet with a cold tinge. She didn't reply. She didn't need to reply. Kurama left to put away his plate whilst Hinata was finishing off washing hers. His heart was racing from the fear of her remembering and her heart was racing from fear of his anger. When she returned the silence almost deafened her but she understood. She understood and so she didn't dare to break it.


	12. Chapter 12

"Do you think this was a bad time?"

"I dunno, should we go back and leave it for today?"

"But we still gotta give it him, right? We may as well just do it."

"The wind seems kinda awkward in that direction though. I'm not sure whether we should risk it..."

The four of them stood in huddle peering into the silent camp at the two sat on logs/makeshift-chairs looking out over the bay and seeming deep in thought.

"Oh, lets just do it!" A small boy with three stars tattooed on his face said this and one of the others, a man with a mohican and a blue stripe tatooed across his nose, shifted slightly.

"Well, I think Jin has a point..." The man said looking up at another who was hovering at around shoulder height with his legs crossed and his arms behind his head from which a single horn protruded out of his vibrant red hair. He had elf-like pointed ears and a single tooth protuded over his lower lip.

"The wind _is_ highly uneasy and you can _feel _the awkward-ness in the atmosphere from here." He said in response to the other adressing him.

"I, Suzuki, agree with Chuu and Jin that we should leave it. Rinku, you can do it by yourself if you still want to." A boy, around the same age as Jin, with spiky blonde hair and alike pointed ears adressed the young boy, Rinku, who frowned at this.

"Well the mood might get even worse so we may as well _all_ do it now!" Rinku protested, his bottom lip protruding slightly to show his mood.

"I don't think it's _possible _for it to get any worse. If only _you _hadn't been so wrapped up in your pathetic fights we could have already given it to him!" Jin stabbed a finger accusingly at Chuu when he said '_you_' and Chuu glared in response.

"It. Is. Not. Stupid! You still wanna fight Yuusuke right? It's the same as that!" He fumed and Jin dropped to the ground and was about to speak when Rinku stopped him.

"Now _you're_ wasting time fighting when we could be delivering the damn message! He's gonna come here if we don't go to him 'cause you two are being so damn loud!" He said with a grumpy sigh at the end, still wearing his sulky frown.

"Fine! We'll _all_ deliver it! Come on!" Jin said marching off ahead in the direction of the camp.

"Hey! Wait up!" Chuu called after him and they all marched into the camp.


	13. Chapter 13

"Yo! Kurama, we gotta message for ya!" Rinku called out, leading the group into the camp whilst Jin and Chuu, lagging behind the other two, had a walking wrestling match and glared at each other a lot. Kurama and Hinata both turned to see the group marching cheerily (for the most part) into camp despite the awkward atmosphere lingering over it. Hinata burst out laughing and Kurama couldn't help but smile.

"You have some real timing issues." He said standing up to greet them. Hinata was introduced and they all, bar Jin and Chuu, sat down.

"What's the message about?" He asked Rinku who was about to respond but was interrupted by Jin and Chuu who were arguing loudly.

"Come down!" Chuu yelled up at Jin who was floating just out of his reach. Jin grinned mischeviously.

"No!" He said still grinning widely.

"I'll throw stones at you!"Chuu threatened and Hinata giggled. She remembered these guys; they were impossible to forget! She didn't let on though. She couldn't do that.

"That'd be breaking the rules! You'd be disqualified!" Jin said pointing an accusing finger at Chuu who grimaced in response. Kurama sighed.

"You were saying?" He said to Rinku ingoring Jin and Chuu's arguments.

"Yes! The message! It's-" Rinku was once again interrupted by Chuu and Jin, who seemed to be getting louder with each new subject in their arguement.

"Get OFF!" Chuu yelled at Jin who, having landed, had him in a headlock.

"Not unless you say that your going to come!" Jin replied with a grumpy frown, ignoring Chuu clawing at his arm furiously.

"Okay! Okay! I'll go! I'll go!" He was obviously just desperate to break free of the headlock.

"I don't believe you! You have to promise and sound more enthusiastic!"

"I promise to go to the tournament so get the hell off!"

"Nope! More enthusiasm and I still don't believe you."

"I guess the message was about the tournament then?" Kurama asked looking at Rinku who nodded, ignoring Jin and Chuu.

"They sorted out the teams and-"

"YOU'RE ON OUR TEAM!" Jin yelled, suddenly becoming involved in the conversation and turning to grin at Kurama, dragging Chuu (who seemed to have given up struggling) behind him.

"Can you let me finish my sentences?" Rinku frowned at Jin who just grinned in response.

"Like Jin said, you're with us, Touya, Hiei, Shishiwakamaru, Yuusuke and Mukuro." Rinku finally delivered the message to Kurama who nodded thoughtfully with a small smile. Having to fight his friends, that would be interesting. Hinata sat there remembering their faces at the mention of their name, she realised that she missed them but couldn't quite figure out how and why she knew them, apart from Mukuro of course.

"I think it's perfectly rational for me to not want to come if I have to face Mukuro in the first round! I wouldn't mind if it was later on... Anyway! Last year everyone in Mukuro and Yomi's teams dropped out! You can't say I'm being unreasonable!" Chuu glared up at Jin who frowned.

"You're just being a wimp! It'll be fun! Tell him he's coming Kurama!" Jin said half strangling Chuu because of how tight he was holding him.

"Well, I think he should come but that's only because I want to fight everyone." He replied with a faint smile.

"Well? What do you say to _that_?" Jin said grinning at Chuu.

"I suppose it would be quite cool to fight all of you guys seriously..." Chuu sighed.

"YAY!" Jin said releasing Chuu and zooming upwards in a superman-like pose. "I'm gonna beat you ALL in the tournament! Mukuro too! I'm gonna become the ruler of the demon world!" Jin yelled grinning down at everyone. An easy conversation about who would be the next ruler of the demon world started and the evening ended with a conversation about what they would do if they ran the demon world. When it started to get dark Jin, Suzuki, Rinku and Chuu left and Hinata and Kurama sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the peace after all of the earlier chatter.

"Shall I cook tea or shall we just get sandwiches?" Hinata asked after a while.

"Sandwiches will do me fine." Kurama replied, both of them getting up to prepare their food. When they sat down again there was a brief silence as both of them tried to figure out what to say.

"Hey, Kurama, I can call you that can't I?" Hinata thought she better check so as to avoid any awkward situations like the one earlier that day.

"Go ahead, just not when we're in school." Kurama said also wanting to avoid any awkward situations but he also didn't want to be asked _too_ many questions _just in case_. Hinata nodded.

"Kurama, have I met those guys before? The others they mentioned as well, bar Mukuro." Hinata asked looking directly at Kurama with a serious expression. She couldn't let this go now, no matter what he said she knew she couldn't.

"You remember them?" Kurama asked answering her question with another.

"I remember their names and faces but no details. I can just vaguely remember them." She replied. Kurama nodded.

"Is that all of your questions? I think all of your others have been answered really, especially with those four coming." Kurama rolled his eyes and Hinata laughed.

"Yeah, that _did_ kind of answer everything that I wanted to know." She replied with a smile which Kurama returned. They then sat in an easy silence for the rest of the night.


	14. Chapter 14

The remaining days in the woods passed by uneventful and peaceful, which was a nice change from all that had happened, until it was time to leave.

"I'll see you after the holiday!" Hinata waved as she ran up her garden path.

"See you." He replied waving back. He then turned to walk home and the excitement in him rose as he thought about the tournament. Tomorrow, he would be back in the demon world. It had been so long since he had gone there and he couldn't wait to feel the familiar air on his face as he passed through familiar territory that he had once ruled over, well, in a way. He unlocked the house door and walked in. It seemed strangely empty with his family not being there, but he was glad that they weren't; he couldn't get himself worked up with his family around, it was too dangerous. Kurama looked at the note his mother had left him, telling him the hotel phone number and to call when he got back from his camping trip. He didn't call straight away; they had only left for their holiday earlier yesterday and it would take about two days to get there. He was glad of this fact. It gave him time to compose himself before speaking to his mother. He sat down on the sofa and thought about the previous week. Hinata had remembered a little bit about her old life. Kurama sighed, his mood slightly dampened. She knew more than she was letting on. He knew it. What if she remembered? What would he do then? He couldn't let the same thing happen again, yet if she remembered it was pretty much guaranted to happen. He sighed. No point thinking about it now. He'd just have to wait and see.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hi, I've just got back. Yes, I'm fine. No, I don't need anything. Yes. Yes. I will. You just have fun. I will. Bye." He'd been back for a few hours when he called and straight after he put down the phone the excitement overwhelmed him. He made sure he had all the things he would need for the tournament and then left the house for the week. As he was walking to where he would meet with his friends, and team members, he saw Kensuke. Usually, he wouldn't take any notice; he was just his usual self picking on some unlucky person who had annoyed him in some way. Kurama knew as soon as he looked at him that something had changed. Kensuke had an aura about him that Kurama had only ever seen once on a human, and that was Yuusuke Urameshi. He paused to watch, hidden behind the corner of a building. When he walked away, he was positive. He needed to talk to Kensuke when he returned. He turned into the park and saw his friends, and team mates, waiting for him. It had been so long since he had seen them all it felt kind of refreshing, even if Shishiwakamaru insisted he was only there to go to the tournament, Hiei stayed quiet.

"Hey Kurama! Long time no see!" Yuusuke greeted him with a smile as he aproached.

"I was thinking the same thing." He returned the smile.

"Ready for the tournament?" Jin asked with a grin.

"Why would he have come if he wasn't?" Chuu pointed out.

"Shall we go?" Kurama suggested before an argument could start.

"Yeah!" Jin flew up a little, out of Chuu's reach, and the group of friends began to walk (and float) to a suitable place to enter the demon world where they would compete in the

Demon World Unification Tournament. As they walked they all talked excitedly, Kurama could tell they were all equally excited about the tournament and this relaxed him. Hiei fell into step beside him.

"Have you spoken to Yomi since the last tournament?" He asked. Kurama shook his head.

"I've only been back to the Demon world twice since the tournament and visiting Yomi hasn't been my first priority." Kurama replied. Hiei snorted.

"I guess you stayed in the Demon world mostly?" Kurama asked Hiei.

"Of course. I had to do some stupid patrol duty." He replied.

"Mukuro ask you to?" Kurama remarked.

"Shuttup." Hiei replied sharply. Kurama chuckled.

"Here we are!" Yuusuke announced from the head of the group. They said their goodbyes to Keiko, Kuwabara and Yukina.

"You better win Urameshi!" Kuwabara said as they prepared to leave.

"Nah! I've gotta beat him first!" Jin said with a grin.

"We'll be watching!" Keiko promised as they left.

"Don't break my TV!" Yuusuke shouted back. A few of the group chuckled at this and almost as soon as Yuusuke had finished that sentence they were in the Demon world.


End file.
